Apparatus for the manufacture of oxygen.



E. F. AUMONT. APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF OXYGEN. APPLIOATIUH FILED MAY 16, 1911.

1 088 052, Patented Feb. 24., 1914.

EMMANUEL FELIX AUMONT, F PARIS, FRANCE.

APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF OXYGEN.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed May 16, 1911. Serial No. 627,639.

7 '0 all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, EMMANUEL FELIX AuMoNT, of 10 Rue Gricault, Paris, in the Republic of France, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in and Relating to Apparatus for the Manufacture of Oxygen, of which the following is. a specification.

This invention relates to an apparatus for extracting the oxygen of the air by a liquefaction process.

An embodiment of the invention is illustrated by way of example in the accompa-nying drawing. v

1 is a compressor forcing air into a collector 2 into which there opens a nest of tubes the central portion of which can be closed partially by means of the disk 3 controlled by a screw stem 4 for enabling the supply to this central portion to be regulated at will. The nest of tubes enters two concent-ric compartments 9 and. 12 separated by a jacket 13 where it acts as far as X Y as a temperature exchanger, the air becoming cooled by means of the return oxygen and nitrogen of the apparatus as hereinafter explained. From Y to the collector 5 it enters the compartments 11 and 10 which are also concentric where its lower part is immersed in liquid oxygen; the air vcondensed under the influence of the tempera ture and of the pressure in producing a corresponding ebullition of external liquid oxygen. The liquid produced is collected under pressure in the collector 5 and sent through the expansion cock 6, through a hydrogen liquefying apparatus 24, to the upper part of a rectification column 7. The expansion at the cock 6 produces a partial evaporation of the liquid. The liquefying apparatus 24 serves to liquefy the gaseous portion resulting from this evaporation in such a manner that the whole of the air treated is discharged in liquid form at the upper part of the rectification column 7 containing 21% of oxygen. Simultaneously by means of this supplementary liquefaction the additional quantity of cold units necessary for counter-balancing the inevitable losses arising from imperfection in the exchanges and defective insulation are introduced into the air cycle. In the rectification column 7 the liquid falls from plate to plate in becoming rich in oxygen; it reaches the expansion chamber 10 in the state of pure liquid oxygen and is there vaporized partly in contact with the tubes of the central nest of tubes and partly in contact with the tubes of the peripheral nest. The passages 14 in the lower part of the jacket 13 establish communication between the compartments 11 and 10. The liquid oxygen admitted to compartment 11 is regulated by the cook 16 which restricts the outflow of the gaseous oxygen from the compartment 12 through the conduit 17, thereby varying the gaseous tensioninxthefllcompartment 12 and ermitting the entrance of more or less liquid oxygen into the compartment 11. The gaseous,

oxygen contained in the annular compartment 10 ascends in the column 7 enriching the oxygen content in the descending liquid.

However, the gases rich in nitrogen escape at the upper part of the column 7 through the conduit 8 and the chamber 9 which acts as an exchanger, and issue at 15, cooling the gases in the compartments 12 and 13.

An auxiliary refrigerating machine furnishes the supplementary cold; it is constituted by a closed hydrogen cycle comprising a compressor 26 delivering through the cooler C of any suitable type into a temperature exchanger 19 at the end of which an idiabatie expansion motor 23 is placed; its parts work dry without lubrication the exhaust gases of the said motor circulating around the tubes of the liquefying apparatus 24 before returning around the nest of tubes of the temperature exchan er 19 where thev are again acted upon ov the compressor 26.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I claim is:

1. ln apparatus for separating oxygen from air by liquefaction, means -for-liquefying the air, a rectification column for separating theliquid and gaseous constituents, and means arranged between the liquefying meansand the rectification column for cool- 100 ing the liquefied air.

2. In apparatus for separating oxygen trom air bv liquefaction, means for liquefying air, and a hydrogen cycle for cooling the liquefied air comprising means for com- 105 pressing and expanding the hydrogen.

Patented Feb. 24, 1914.'

3. In apparatus r01 separamng oxygen pressor for compressing the hydrogen and an expans1on engme whereln the compressed i hydrogen expands.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto placed my hand at Paris (France) this fourth da of May, 1911.

E ANUEL FELIX AUMON'I.

In the presence of two witnesses:

H. C. Coxn, HENRY ScHwAB. 

